Swapping out rigid & suspension forks...?

[L2R24]

Have been been thinking about some 100mm suspension forks for my rigid Silk Road 29er, with the idea that I'd swap out for hardtail play days in the woods, and rougher routes. TBF I'd been waiting for a short Redshift stem to come along, but they're still not released yet.

Does anyone swap forks regularly? Brake cable is external routed so looks to be a relatively simple thing to swap them out. Is there anything I need to watch out for or parts I need - a crown race for instance?

According to Planext X my rigid forks are "suspension corrected", they recommend 100mm fork with 51mm offset.

Cheers
L2R

[FLV]

I used to do it fairly regularly. My headset had a split crown race (courtesy of a jnr hacksaw) so I just swapped that too.

Moving the brake calliper is the biggest annoyance, but its not an issue. I just used a small amount of insulation take for the brake hose. Then just need to remember how many headset spacers you want above / below (I liked to move the bars up for rigid forks, just a bit).
I had a brake rotor on each wheel, never found an issue with this.

If you don't mind the 5 mins fettle and are happy with the same front tyre, its fine and a very easy way to change the bike (once you have the forks).

[Lazarus]

a short Redshift stem to come along,

Owning one on a road bike i would not expect very much from one anyway- removes chatter but not really suspension [ apparently the full movement only really works with tri bars and i reckon i get about 10-15 mm on mine [ on a road/cross bike]. I do like it but its not suspension more relief [ and you cannot put lights on your bars]

Also do it and its fine as noted its about 5-10 mins faff , these days i just tale another bike if i want suspension [ but its not got gears so swings and roundabouts]

[Hyppy]

Does anyone swap forks regularly? Brake cable is external routed so looks to be a relatively simple thing to swap them out. Is there anything I need to watch out for or parts I need - a crown race for instance?

Yeah, I do this a fair bit with my Cotic Cascade, going between a Travers Prong Evo and Rockshox Reba depending on what I'm up to. That said, I'm finding that I leave the bouncy forks on for far more than I envisaged as I'm not really finding the limitations I thought I would (ie, I can still go out for a group 'gravel' ride and can ride the same pace as most).

I've a Hope headset and leave a crown race on each set of forks, which are cut to identical steerer lengths so the same spacer setup is used for each. The only mistake I made when first deciding to do this was to feed the brake hose through the Travers fork's internal routing. After my first swap to the Rockshox I realised my error and now just use a reusable cable tie round the fork leg. It's perhaps a 10 minute job to remove the caliper and top cap , loosen the stem, drop the fork, and rebuild with the other.

I actually find the bigger 'issue' with each build's intended use is the gearing: If I'm in full-on solo bikepacking mode I want far lower gearing (32/52) which at the other end (32/11) finds me struggling to spin fast enough to hold the back wheel if a group ride includes any kind of road blast. I'm leaving a 34 on at the mo, which seems a fair compromise.

[benp1]

I had grand plans to do this. I bought a rigid fork for my Cotic and planned to swap the sus fork in and out as wanted. It was fairly easy to swap, but it's still a faff. In the end I kept it as fully rigid and have a full suss to complement it

[L2R24]

Thanks for the replies all. I was originally going to a Huntsman from PX when on offer a month or so ago, to add a MTB to the stable, but couldn't justify the cost (though did look to be a bargain). Therefore thoughts turned to converting the 29er to a bouncy hardtail. It may be partly scratching an itch, but there are also definitely times on the Ridgeway where I've thought 'proper' front suss would be good. I've got a Redshift on my gravel bike and am always surprised at how effective it is (though not full 'squish...)

@Hyppy - how do you rate the reba's?

[faustus]

On the Unit i've swapped mainly between two rigid forks (Steel OEM and Carbon), but like a sus fork, they have different a-c lengths and I adjust spacers as necessary. I've recently got a sus fork and will be happy to swap that out as and when. As others have said, it's a simple enough job, and I have just put spare crown races on each fork to ease the pain (one fork isn't tapered though), and keep rotor sizes the same so you don't have to change brake adaptors (if you have them). It's cheaper than getting another bike!

Depends on your geometry, but with the longer a-c length of a sus fork, you might want to keep the bars lower on the steerer than with your rigid fork (if there's room). Might be less of an issue with a 100mm fork, but i've put a 120mm on and because it's a decent difference to the standard fork, i've put it lower as it would be too high, partly because it's at a good height when rigid.

[Hyppy]

@Hyppy - how do you rate the reba's?

They do the job nicely. I'm no suspension aficionado though, so couldn't tell you what I miss out on from more expensive options. My choice was largely weight-based, and I couldn't justify the few hundred quid more to save a few hundred grams by going with SIDs. My Reba were OEM stock that Wiggle/CRC were selling of so only cost £200 if I recall correctly.

[L2R24]

@Hyppy - how do you rate the reba's?

They do the job nicely. I'm no suspension aficionado though, so couldn't tell you what I miss out on from more expensive options. My choice was largely weight-based, and I couldn't justify the few hundred quid more to save a few hundred grams by going with SIDs. My Reba were OEM stock that Wiggle/CRC were selling of so only cost £200 if I recall correctly.

Cheers for that. I've found some Rebas at similar price at the right spec and looking to do this cheaply as cheaply as poss, so they sound just the ticket. Sounds like I just need to get me a crown race in that case (need to determine what the headset is on the Silk Road now...!)
Edit: might be this so not expensive https://www.planetx.co.uk/products/crow ... 9a47&_ss=r